


Yes, I am a robot. A British Robot.

by directium



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Mentions of character 'death', Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-07
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-31 21:08:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6487411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/directium/pseuds/directium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on an AU where Doyle turns out to be an AI and survives the explosion because of it. Kimball…has some things to say to him that she hadn’t gotten a chance to before his supposed suicide.</p><p>Kimboyle-ish, if you squint.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Yes, I am a robot. A British Robot.

It didn’t take a genius to know that Doyle was no ghost.

The Reds and Blues had let out a collective groan when the glowing, yellow figure appeared before them as they approached Doyle’s charred armor. All except for Caboose, who seemed overjoyed at the idea that “Church now had another computer friend!”, which Epsilon responded to with an annoyed “Yes, because THAT’S the important thing to get out of this situation.”

Doyle’s reaction was…different from theirs, to say the least. He was having a difficult time processing the fact that he was…well, an AI! A computer! He would have fainted if it weren’t for the fact that he no longer had a body. How on Chorus did it even faint in the first place?! Had it been someone else’s body-Oh, God, he didn’t even want to consider that possibility! It was worse than the current situation!

“But surely this is impossible!” he insisted, hastily pacing around in midair. “I have memories of my life before the war! I remember being a secretary for-”

“Trust me, buddy,” Epsilon said, sounding almost sympathetic. “It’s not impossible. I’ve got a lot of memories that aren’t my own.”

“He’s not wrong,” Washington added wistfully.

“But…” Doyle racked his brain (circuits?!) for some kind of plausible explanation. “I just…CAN’T be an AI!”

“And what’s so wrong with being an AI?” Epsilon asked, slightly offended.

“Oh, n-nothing!” Doyle said quickly. “It’s just…I can’t be one! My memories…my life…It can’t all be fabricated, can’t it?”

He sounded like he was desperate for someone to confirm to him that he wasn’t wrong. That he wanted to be assured that he was still Donald Doyle, former general of the Federal Army.

“Is this the Director’s doing?” Simmons asked. “I mean, he made Church and the other AIs, didn’t he?”

“It’s not his doing, I can tell you that much,” Carolina said. “If I had to take a guess, I’d put my money on Hargrove. After seeing everything he’s already done here on Chorus, I wouldn’t put it past him to plant one of his own AI in order to keep a closer eye on the soldiers.”

“But Doyle’s nothing like Hargrove,” Tucker pointed out. “I mean, except for maybe the accent…”

“It’s possible Hargrove didn’t map his own brain to make him,” Epsilon pointed out. “Or…worst case scenario, he decided to take a page or two out of the Director’s book and fragment an AI. I wouldn’t put THAT past him either-”

“Stop it!” Doyle begged, hands over his ears. “I don’t want to hear this! I’m not an AI! I’m Donald Doyle! I…I can’t be…”

“That’s enough.”

It was the first time Kimball had spoken since they first found him, and all heads turned towards her. She was silent as she stepped closer to Doyle, not taking her eyes off him. He forgot his internal conflicts for a moment as he watched her, waiting for her to say something.

She stared at him for a few more minutes, not saying a word. No one else dared to speak either. Finally, she tore her gaze from him and looked down.

“Carolina…Washington…are you positive he’s an AI?”

“There’s no doubt,” Carolina said.

“Miss Kimball…” Doyle began, but Kimball just raised her hand to silence him.

“Doyle…You may be an AI. But even when you didn’t know that, you were willing to sacrifice yourself to protect this planet. Protect your people…” She clenched her fists tightly, and Doyle could see that she was trembling. Was she crying? “I…I said a lot of things about you. Things I’ve regretted ever since I thought you died.”

“Kimball…” Tucker spoke up.

“Just…let me speak,” she said.

It was more of a request than an order, so Tucker respectfully fell silent as she continued to speak. “I’m not a good person, Doyle. I tried to keep hating you, because I’ve been told to for so long. I tried to convince myself that you were nothing more than some pompous, frightened brat who didn’t deserve the title of general. I got angry whenever you called me Miss, because I didn’t believe you were worthy enough to call me that. But then you go and…and do this…”

Doyle could hear her voice cracking as she spoke: “Donald Doyle, you’re an AI. But you’re more than that. You’re one of the bravest soldiers, the bravest PEOPLE, I’ve ever known. And between the two of us, you’re more worthy of the rank of general than I could ever hope to be.”

She chuckled weakly. “And honestly? I’m glad you’re an AI. If you hadn’t been one, then you would be dead right now, still thinking that…that you had to die in order to mean something. And you don’t deserve that. You deserve to live. You deserve to go on and do great things for the people of Chorus. Or whatever you choose to do after this, I…I don’t know. Wouldn’t blame you if you decided to live a more relaxed life after all this-”

She fell silent as Doyle flickered out of sight, and inhaled softly as a tingling sensation spread throughout her body. It felt warm, comforting. Like…

Someone was hugging her…

“Thank you, Vanessa,” Doyle’s voice was soft in her ears.

She fell to her knees, unable to hold her tears back any longer. Washington stepped forward to try and comfort her, but Carolina held him back and shook her head.

“Doyle…Donald, I’m so sorry…” Kimball said in a voice low enough for only him to hear.

“I know,” he said, the sensation around her growing stronger as if he were hugging her tighter. “I forgive you.”

It felt like an enormous weight had been lifted off her shoulders upon hearing his words, her smile the widest it had been in a long time. Eventually, she felt the hugging sensation around her disappear and he reappeared in front of her; a tiny, yellow AI once more. She took this as a sign to stand up again, and turned to face the Reds and Blues again.

“So…are you two okay?” Tucker asked.

“I…I think we are,” Kimball said.

“So…what do we do now?” Grif asked.

Kimball looked to the AI, who had floated closer to her right shoulder. “Well…first things first. We’ll need to get him a new body so I can kick his ass for scaring the shit out of me like that!”

“What?” Doyle asked, looking at her.

“You didn’t think I was going to let you get away with pulling a stunt like that, did you?” she asked, her voice playful.

He smiled and shook his head. “Okay, okay, I suppose that’s fair.”

**Author's Note:**

> It was originally a oneshot on Tumblr, but I liked it enough to post it here. Funny how anything outside TDOPFLID on here is centered around Kimball and Doyle.


End file.
